Pretoria

Pretoria
View frae the Union Buildings
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Motto(s):  Præstantia Prævaleat Prætoria (May Pretoria Be Pre-eminent In Excellence)
Pretoria Location o Pretorie
Coordinates (Church Square): 25°44′46″S 28°11′17″E / 25.74611°S 28.18806°E / -25.74611; 28.18806
Kintra	Sooth Africae
Province	Gauteng
Metropolitan municipality	City of Tshwane
Established	1855
Area
• Total	1644 km2 (635 sq mi)
Elevation	1271 m (4,170 ft)
Population  (2001)
• Total	2.1 million
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Area code(s)	012

Pretoria (Afrikaans pronunciation: [prɛˈtuəria]; Zulu: ePitoli) is a ceety locatit in the northren pairt o Gauteng Province, Sooth Africae. It is ane o the kintra's three caipital ceeties, servin as the executive (admeenistrative) an de facto naitional caipital; the ithers are Cape Toun, the legislative caipital, an Bloemfontein, the judicial caipital.

Pretoria is contained athin the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as ane o several constituent umwhile admeenistrations (amang which an aa Centurion an Soshanguve). Pretoria itsel is whiles incorrectly referred tae as "Tshwane" in a controversial proposed name chynge, the status o which is still bein decidit an aw.

The ceety's oreeginal name wis Pretoria Philadelphia ("Pretoria o britherly love").^[2] It gae its name tae the Pax Praetoriana, referrin tae the kintra's relative stability.

History

The Soothren Transvaal Ndebele occupee'd the river valley, which wis tae acome the location o the ceety o Pretoria, bi aroond 1600.

Durin the difaqane in Natal, anither baund o refugees arrived in this aurie unner the leadership o Mzilikazi. Houesomeivver, thay wur forced tae abandon thair veelages in thair flicht frae a regiment o Zulu raiders in 1832.

Pretoria itsel wis foondit in 1855 bi Marthinus Pretorius, a leader o the Voortrekkers, who named it efter his faither Andries Pretorius. The elder Pretorius haed acome a naitional hero o the Voortrekkers efter his victory ower the Zulus in the Battle o Blood River. Andries Pretorius an aa negotiatit the Sand River Convention (1852), in which Breetain acknowledged the unthirldom o the Transvaal. It became the caipital o the Sooth African Republic (ZAR) on 1 Mey 1860. The foondin o Pretoria as the caipital o the Sooth African Republic can be seen as markin the end o the Boers' dounset movements o the Great Trek.

Boer Wars

Durin the First Boer War, the ceety wis besieged bi Republican forces in December 1880 an Mairch 1881. The peace treaty which endit the war wis signed in Pretoria on 3 August 1881 at the Pretoria Convention.

The Seicont Boer War (1899 tae 1902) resultit in the end o the Republic o Transvaal an stairt o Breetish hegemony in Sooth Africae. Durin the war, Winston Churchill wis imprisoned in the Staats Model School in Pretoria but escaped tae Mozambique. The ceety surrendered tae Breetish forces unner Frederick Roberts on 5 Juin 1900 an the conflict wis endit in Pretorie wi the signin o the Peace o Vereeniging on 31 Mey 1902.

A nummer o forts wur biggit for the defence o the ceety juist prior tae the Seicont Boer War, tho some are the day in ruins, a nummer o them hae been preserved as naitional monuments.

Admeeministrative caipital o Sooth Africae

The Transvaal Colony an Orange Free State wi Cape Colony an Natal Colony merged in 1910 tae form Union o Sooth Africae, wi Pretoria as its admeenistrative caipital (while Cape Toun became parliamentary an legislative caipital). In the period atween 1860 an 1994, Pretoria wis an aa the caipital o the provincial govrenment o Transvaal Province.

On 14 October 1931, Pretoria wis offeecially received ceety status. Wi the establishment o academic an scienteefic institutions, Pretoria an aa serves as the academic caipital o Sooth Africae. It is hame tae a nummer o varsities an research institutions, includin the Varsity o Pretoria, Varsity o Sooth Africae an the CSIR.

Pretoria's Church Street wis ane o the targets o the ANC's terror attacks in Sooth Africae in the years 1982 tae 1984. The bomb explosion in the street on Mey 20, 1983 aichteen fowk wur killed an 217 injured.

On 24 November 1995, Pretoria first black mayor, Slo Ramokhoase, wis electit.

The day, Pretoria is pairt o the Ceety o Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, ane o the three Sooth Africa's five laigest metropolitan auries in the province o Gauteng tae be foond.

Demographics

Dependin on the definition o the ceey leemits, the population ranges frae 600,000 tae 1.2 million. The main leids spoken in the Tshwane municipality are Pedi, Afrikaans, Tswana, Tsonga, Zulu an Inglis. Ndebele an Sotho are an aa widely spoken. The whole Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality haed a population o 1,985,997 at the 2001 census. The ceety o Pretoria haes the lairgest white population o onywhere on the African continent. Syne its foondin it haes been a major Afrikaner population centre, an currently thare are roughly 400,000 Afrikaners livin in or aroond the ceety.

Even syne the end o Apartheid, Pretoria itsel still haes a white majority, albeit an iver increasin black middle-class. Housomeivver in the tounships o Soshanguve an Atteridgeville non-whites mak up close tae aw o the population. The lairgest white ethnic group are the Afrikaners an the lairgest black ethnic group are the Northren Sothos.

If ane considers the lawer estimate for the population ofPretoria, this includes lairgely umwhile-white designatit auries an thare is therefore a white majority. Housomeivver if ane includes the geographically separate tounships, this increases Pretoria's population ayont a million an maks whites a minority.

Pretoria's Asians maistly live in the Indian tounship o Laudium or alangside whites in the suburbs.

Internaitional relations

Twin touns – Sister ceeties

Pretoria is twinned wi:

Shoppin Malls

• Atterbury Boulevard
• Atterbury Value Mart
• Brooklyn Mall*
• Brooklyn Design Square
• Centurion Mall (upon Hennops River)*
• Hatfield Plaza*
• Irene Village Mall*
• Kolonnade Centre*
• Mall @ Reds*
• Menlyn Retail Park
• Menlyn Park*
• Parkview Centre
• Sammy Marks Shopping Centre
• Sancardia Shopping Centre
• Sterland Mall*
• Sunny Park
• The Grove Shopping Centre*
• Woodlands Boulevard*
• Wonderboom Junction Shopping Centre
• Wonderpark Shopping Centre*

Please note: The malls wi an asterix are malls wi at least a 4-screen cinema complex. Menlyn Park is currently the anerlie shoppin mall wi an "Imax Theatre" an Kolonnade Centre is the anerlie mall in the ceety wi a public ice-skatin rink.

Places o interest

• Pretoria National Botanical Garden
• The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa
• Church Square
• Union Buildings
• Marabastad
• Menlyn Park
• Voortrekker Monument

Nature Reserves

• Groenkloof Nature Reserve
• Rietvlei Nature Reserve
• Moreletaspruit Nature Reserve
• Faerie Glen Nature Reserve
• Wonderboom Nature Reserve

References